Press Releases

MEC statement: State should immediately release Line 5 report draft

Jun 21, 2017

The Michigan Environmental Council on Wednesday called for the immediate release of a draft report on the risk of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac—set to be made public in just days—that was scuttled when state officials terminated a contract with the firm preparing the report due to a conflict of interest.

"In the interest of transparency, the state must disclose when and how they learned about this conflict of interest," said Chris Kolb, MEC president. "We also call on state leaders to make public any documents or drafts of the risk analysis. This will enable Michigan residents to trust that the contract was terminated only because of the conflict of interest, and not because of anything in the report.

"Concerned citizens across Michigan have been waiting a long time for this report, which was due in just a few days. We cannot accept any further delay. The state should move forward with the alternatives analysis and public comment process this summer and immediately secure a contractor to complete the risk analysis."

Kolb added that the state should consider contracting with University of Michigan researchers to put a dollar figure on a worst-case-scenario oil spill from Line 5, building on their research that found the Straits of Mackinac is the worst possible place for an oil spill in the Great Lakes.